I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to business forms with information cards therein and specifically to a business form containing an imagable punch-out information card and the methods of producing the card-in-form combination.
II. Related Art
Information cards are used in countless ways in our everyday lives to record and carry nearly any kind of data including advertisements, insurance records, identification data or even credit card information. In business, these cards are often associated with business forms or cover letters to explain to the user what the card is and how to use it. The proliferation of these information cards in business has created a need for a business form with a removable information card which is thin, durable, and easily and conveniently printable on both top and bottom surfaces with standard printing equipment. Such a product would allow a business to rapidly customize the form and the card at the same time with perfect accuracy and registration between the card and the form. Prior to the present invention, such a product did not exist since all prior products compromised at least one of these characteristics.
At present, most, if not all, commercially available business form and card combinations are produced in one of four ways. In the first and most simple way, the card is simply adhered to the surface of the form. While simple and easy to produce, this product can easily jam in printing machines due to the thickness of the card-on-form combination and the tendency of the card to predispense or peel away from the underlying adhesive when the form passes through tight radius turns such as those in modern printers. And of course, the card cannot be duplex printed once attached to the form since its bottom surface is covered by the form.
In the second type, a hole is cut in the form slightly larger than the card and the card is placed within the hole. Strips or patches of adhesive tape on the bottom surface of the business form cover at least part of the card to hold it in place within the hole. The bottom surface of the card is coated with or composed of a release material so that the card may be pulled away from the adhesive on the tape and removed from the form. This type of product, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,236 to Greig, and U.S. Pat. 5,281,799 to McIntire, et al., exhibits several undesirable characteristics. One is that the card has a tendency to predispense in modern printers. In addition, the card is only partially duplexible since the tape covers at least a portion of the bottom surface of the card.
Also, the tape used in creating this type of product is usually single liner transfer tape which, as is well known in the art, has a slick or smooth release liner on its bottom surface so that it can be wound upon itself and conveniently stored prior to use. When unrolled and applied to the bottom surface of the form, the tape""s slick release liner is exposed. This creates a slippery area on the bottom of the form which can cause the form to feed incorrectly in printers and to slide when the forms are stacked for storage.
In the third type, a well or depression is created in a business form and the card is adhesively secured within the well as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,830 to Edwards. This card cannot be duplex printed across its entire back surface once placed in the well since its bottom surface is covered by at least a portion of the form itself.
The fourth type is known as a xe2x80x9cclean-releasexe2x80x9d card and form combination. As exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,013 to Casagrande, these are created by laminating a patch of material containing some combination of film layers, pressure sensitive adhesive layers and dry, splittable adhesive or varnish to the bottom surface of a business form. The card is then created out of part of the form itself by die-cutting through the top surface of the business form and to but not through the splittable adhesive or varnish. The card can then be pulled from the business form, splitting the dry adhesive or varnish and leaving a xe2x80x9ccleanxe2x80x9d or non-sticky release surface on the card and the business form. Also, this type of card is clean-cut or die-cut from the card in form combination instead of perforated or punched-out like in the present invention.
This product carries the obvious disadvantage that the card is made from the same stock as the business form. This means that if the end user desires a card with high durability, the entire form must be made of durable material, usually plastic, which is extremely expensive and impractical given its weight, thickness and cost. On the other hand, to lower costs and make printing more practical, a lighter material must be used for the form, which lowers the durability of the card. Another disadvantage is that since this product requires a backer sheet as the bottom layer of the patch lamination in order to support the card once it is cut from the form, the card cannot be duplex printed. Moreover, due to the many layers of adhesive, film and backer, these products tend to be quite thick which can impede their passage through modern high speed printing machines. Finally, since the card is held to the backer only by adhesive, these die cut cards also predispense as the form is bent around tight radius turns in printing machines.
As outlined above, the invention provides a thin and durable business form and removable card combination which can be easily and conveniently printed upon on both its top and bottom surfaces. The principal aspect of the invention is a card-in-form combination comprising a business form with laser compatible punch-out card disposed therein. This combination comprises a business form layer containing a die cut hole slightly larger than the size of the card. The card is positioned within the hole in the form and the bottom surface of the card is permanently secured to a backer layer. The backer layer, which is slightly larger than the hole in the form, is also adhesively secured to the bottom surface of the form around the periphery of the hole. The backer layer is perforated around the edges of the card so that the card and corresponding portion of the backer layer secured to the card can be punched out and removed from the combination. In other words, part of the backer layer becomes part of the card when it is removed from the card-in-form combination.
As described herein, the present card in form combination is extremely thin. By placing the card in a hole in the form, the effective thickness of the card is reduced and the cumulative thickness problem of the previous card-on-form products is completely avoided. In addition, the backer layer, as will be discussed, is preferably a very thin material such as polyester which adds little to the overall thickness of the card-in-form combination especially since the only other layer in this laminate is a single adhesive layer.
By creating the card from plastic stock and not from paper stock, the present invention allows for just the card to be made from the more durable stock. This is also much more economical and allows the user many more choices of card and form material than some of the products disclosed in the prior art.
Also in the present invention, both sides of the card-in-form combination are capable of being printed out to all edges of the form and the card. This is due to the backer layer actually becoming part of the card when it is punched out of the form.
Unlike the prior products, the present invention will not predispense the card when bent through a tight radius because the card structurally is held within the form by the perforated backer layer and not just by releasable adhesive. Thus, the present invention may be fed through a larger variety of printing machines faster and more reliably without causing expensive and time consuming jams. And since the perforations can go only through the extremely thin backer layer and not the card itself, rough edges on the punched out card, if any, are barely perceptible.
In this way, the principal aspect of the invention advances the state of the art and meets its goals while providing structural and functional advantages over the prior art.
Another aspect of the invention relates to the card laminate used to produce the card-in-form combination. The bottom layer of the card laminate is the backer layer. The top layer of the card laminate is the card material layer with a layer of patterned release material disposed on its bottom surface. A layer of pressure sensitive adhesive laminates the bottom surface of the card material layer with the release material to the top surface of the backer stock.
The card may be formed in the card material layer by die cutting through the card material layer and to, but not through, the backer layer and by perforating a substantially corresponding line through the backer layer. Thus, the card is defined by the area of card material, adhesive and backer material within the card die cut and perforations. The patterned release material layer is generally disposed between the card material layer and backer layer such that there is little or no release material between the card material and the backer layer within the die-cut/perforated area. In this way, the die cut area of the card material is permanently adhered to the corresponding area of the perforated backer layer. And since there is no exposed adhesive in the card laminate when it is in this form, a web of card laminate can be rolled and stored until ready for usexe2x80x94without the use of slick release liners inherent in the transfer tapes used in the prior art.
Another aspect of the present invention is the use of an optional card border area. The border is an area of material left around the die-cut area of the card. This border is an area of card material between the card die cut and a concentric border die cut surrounding the card die cut. Like the bottom surface of the card material within the card cut, the bottom surface of the border area is not coated with release material. In this way, if the release material bleeds from its original position outside of the border cut, it will bleed into the border area and not disturb the permanent bond between the card material within the card cut and the corresponding area of backer layer.
Another aspect of the invention is the process of making the card-in-form combination using the card laminate. The slit-over-perforation method may be used in the production of the card laminate and the card-in-form combination to simultaneously die cut the card in the card material and perforate the backer material of the assembled card laminate. The use of the slit-over-perforation process with the patterned release material layer allows for the portion of the card material layer which is outside of the card die-cut (the xe2x80x9cwaste matrixxe2x80x9d) to be removed from the card laminate. This leaves die cut cards surrounded by a portion of the backer layer with exposed adhesive on its top surface. Of course, if the optional border is used, the waste matrix is that portion of the card material which is outside of the border die cut rather than the card die cut. Once the waste matrix is removed, the backer layer, if in web form, can be cut into patches and applied to the bottom surface of the business forms with the cards (or the cards plus surrounding borders) disposed in the holes in the forms. Thus, the use of the card laminate allows for the rapid and efficient manufacture of the card-in-form product.